June 24, 2013

Forget the Venus flytrap

While I was traveling this weekend, a friend sent me a link to one of the weirdest science stories I've ever seen. No doubt the reader is familiar with carnivorous plants, which typically gain some kind of nutrients from insects or small critters.

...uses its sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death.

The animals then decay at the base of the plant, acting as fertiliser.

(Apparently the Brits spell fertilizer with an "s". Good thing we had that revolution.)

Yeesh. I'm going to try to be nicer to plants.

IT'S ABOUT TIME. The Fair Labor Standards Act, a major piece of New Deal legislation, turns 75 this year. Among other things, that bill gave us the minimum wage. We should celebrate the anniversary by raising it.